Why coffee & sugar love your skin, and the art of Gua Sha facial massage

New product highlight: Coffee Sugar Scrub

This new product combines the power of two common kitchen ingredients to make a clean, safe scrub for a nourishing self-care ritual. This scrub is very exfoliating, and was formulated primarily to be used on the body, not so much on the face, although a very small amount can be used carefully on dry, flaky skin.

Coffee brings multiple powerful antioxidants to support cell health and healthy skin aging, while caffeine increases blood circulation and may minimize the appearance of puffiness in the skin. Sugar is naturally a humectant substance, meaning it helps to lock moisture in to the skin. Raw, unrefined cane sugar (like what's in our sugar scrub) is actually quite mineral rich and can be nourishing for skin cells. Also, both coffee and sugar are just excellent exfoliants: they are effective without being too harsh on the skin. Our scrub is rounded out with coconut oil & almond oil to give you exfoliation & moisturization in one go. 

We recommend keeping this scrub in the shower and using it once or twice a week. For maximum skin hydration (appropriate for more naturally dry skin), use the scrub after body wash/soap. For less hydration (appropriate for more naturally oily skin), use the scrub before body wash/soap. 

Facial massage: Gua sha & moving the lymph

We're so excited this drop to include gua sha stones with our Golden Skin Oil. Gua sha, to summarize, is an ancient practice in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). This practice involves specific facial massage movements utilizing the gua sha stone. Gua Sha massage can be an amazing practice to move the lymph in the face, neck & shoulders, and tone the muscles in the face.

While I am an herbalist and do practice Gua Sha on myself regularly, I am not a TCM practitioner nor a Gua Sha expert. So I'd love to recommend this video that is an excellent tutorial from a professional in this field, with extra tips for optimal support!

The Golden Skin Oil is the perfect serum to compliment your Gua Sha practice- you can simply use a few drops and gently rub it into your skin before you start the facial massage process. Be sure to use a few drops on your neck, shoulders & décolletage too for the best preparation for Gua Sha. 

Happy practicing,

Rabia